The
Committee consisted of the following
Members:
†
Byers,
Mr. Stephen
(North Tyneside)
(Lab)
†
Farrelly,
Paul
(Newcastle-under-Lyme)
(Lab)
†
Foster,
Mr. Michael
(Worcester)
(Lab)
†
Hanson,
Mr. David
(Minister of State, Northern Ireland
Office)
†
Heyes,
David
(Ashton-under-Lyne)
(Lab)
†
Lancaster,
Mr. Mark
(North-East Milton Keynes)
(Con)
†
Mole,
Chris
(Ipswich)
(Lab)
†
Öpik,
Lembit
(Montgomeryshire)
(LD)
Rifkind,
Sir Malcolm
(Kensington and Chelsea)
(Con)
†
Robertson,
Mr. Laurence
(Tewkesbury)
(Con)
†
Robinson,
Mr. Peter
(Belfast, East)
(DUP)
†
Simpson,
Alan
(Nottingham, South)
(Lab)
†
Smith,
Geraldine
(Morecambe and Lunesdale)
(Lab)
Stewart,
Ian
(Eccles)
(Lab)
Stuart,
Mr. Graham
(Beverley and Holderness)
(Con)
†
Walker,
Mr. Charles
(Broxbourne)
(Con)
†
Waltho,
Lynda
(Stourbridge)
(Lab)
Eliot
Wilson, Committee
Clerk
†
attended the Committee
Second
Delegated Legislation
Committee
Wednesday 31
January
2007
[Mr.
Greg Pope
in the
Chair]
Draft Northern Ireland Assembly (Elections) (Amendment) Order 2007
2.30
pm
The
Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Mr. David
Hanson):
I beg to move,
That the Committee has
considered the draft Northern Ireland Assembly (Elections) (Amendment)
Order 2007.
The order
was laid before the House on 8 January and debated in another place on
24 January. I welcome you to the Chair, Mr. Pope. I am sure
that you will hear an interesting debate on what I hope is a
non-controversial measure.
Northern Ireland Assembly
elections were called yesterday, and they will be held on 7 March. The
purpose of the order is to remove any uncertainty about the definition
of election expenses that will apply for the purposes of the
forthcoming elections. Currently, elections to the Assembly are
conducted in accordance with the provisions of several pieces of
legislation: the Representation of the People Acts 1983 and 1985 and
the Elections (Northern Ireland) Act 1985, which applied to Assembly
elections with both specific and general modifications by the Northern
Ireland Assembly (Elections) Order 2001.
There has recently been
discussion in the House about election law and administration, and
section 27 of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 redefined
legislation relating to election expenses. The Act, which was commenced
on 11 September 2006, repealed several sections of the Representation
of the People Act 1983 that were applied by the 2001 order. We must now
ensure that new provisions are applied, so that the elections order is
up to date and in place for the forthcoming March elections. Currently,
it is unclear whether, automatically, the changes that section 27 of
the 2006 Act makes are commenced on the strength of the 2001
order.
There is
little practical difference between the two orders; we simply want to
ensure that there is no room for any doubt about election expenses for
the March elections. With that in mind, we seek to put the matter
beyond doubt by introducing the amending instrument today. It will make
it clear that the new definition applies in accordance with section 27
of the 2006 Act.
The
order is, I hope, uncontroversial. It is designed simply to update
electoral registration and expenses. We had planned to introduce a
wide-ranging provision in electoral legislation later this year;
however Committee members will know that the Northern Ireland (St.
Andrews Agreement) Act 2006 was designed to ensure that we have an
election, subject to a range of conditions. The election has been
called for
7 March, and we must update the legislation to make election expenses
appropriate to it. On that basis, I commend the order to the
Committee.
2.32
pm
Mr.
Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con): I, too, welcome you
to the Committee, Mr. Pope. I have no objections to the
order.
2.33
pm
Lembit
Öpik (Montgomeryshire) (LD): I, too, welcome you to
the Chair, Mr. Pope. That is probably the most substantive
contribution that I shall make to the debate.
My only other point is that the
Government are in the habit of moving elections around. They set bad
precedents in 2003, and as Baroness Harris of Richmond made clear in
the upper House, we sincerely hope that this is an end to the
matter.
2.34
pm
Mr.
Peter Robinson (Belfast, East) (DUP): May I join others in
welcoming you to the Chair, Mr. Pope? It is always nice to
be presided over by a pope.
[Laughter.]
I welcome the order, not so
much because of its content, which is technical, but because of the
clear signal it sends that the people of Northern Ireland will have the
opportunity to speak on the significant issues and events of the past
weeks and months. I know that you will not allow me to go into any
detail about those issues, Mr. Pope, but it is encouraging
to think that whereas this time last year there was legislation for an
unaccountable Assembly where Ministers were not held to account and
republicans with weapons were continuing their paramilitary and
criminal activities and giving no support to the police, the courts or
the rule of law, there has now been a transformation in all those
matters which has allowed the Government to proceed with legislation
such as the order before us. The people must have the opportunity to
speak on such matters. The order is an essential part of that, because
it fulfils the requirements set out in the Electoral Administration Act
2006 and brings them into the relevant legislation for Northern
Ireland.
The Minister
mentioned section 27 of the 2006 Act, which redefines electoral
expenses. The principles and policy that underlie the change were
debated during the passage of that Act and have already been provided
for in legislation. In short, the Political Parties, Elections and
Referendums Act 2000 made changes to the start date for the calculation
of expenses for individual candidates, as the drafting of the
Representation of the People Act 1983 was considered by many, if not
most, to be uncertain and unsatisfactory. The period was considered to
have begun when the person was declared to be a candidate. There was
case law dating back to the 19th century on when the declaration
occurred in reality. The 2000 Act changed the law so that the relevant
start date for becoming a candidate was the dissolution of the relevant
legislature or the subsequent declaration of candidature. However,
there were also provisions to allow for occasions on which expenses had
been incurred before that date, such as on the advance purchase of
stationary and so on.
In its 2003 policy review,
“Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act
2000—Recommendations for change”, the Electoral
Commission noted the concern of a number of parties, candidates, agents
and electoral administrators that the start date was too close to the
election, leaving a significant period of campaigning unregulated. The
2006 Act addressed that issue. The order is purely a technical measure
to ensure that those changes are incorporated into Northern Ireland
law.
However,
today’s debate also gives us the opportunity to reflect on the
fact that electoral law in Northern Ireland is in urgent need of
consolidation. The Minister referred to his hope that there might be
further legislation in this Session. There is a plethora of bits and
pieces of electoral law in Northern Ireland. It is a shambles, very
difficult to work one’s way through and in urgent need of
consolidation. Given the various sources of electoral legislation, it
is reasonable to conclude that as many people in Northern Ireland
understand the full scope of electoral law as understood the
Schleswig-Holstein question—I can see that the Minister
immediately recognises the reference. Lord Palmerston said that only
three people knew what it meant: Prince Albert, who was dead, a German
professor who was in an asylum, and himself, but he had
forgotten.
As my
party’s director of elections, I have found it increasingly
difficult to advise on electoral law. It is certainly not possible to
do so without taking legal advice, because there is such a plethora of
electoral law to deal with. As the explanatory notes to the 2006 Act
make
clear:
“New
section 90ZA(1) provides that ‘election expenses’ in
relation to a candidate at an election means any expenses incurred at
any time in respect of any matter specified in Part 1 of Schedule
4A”—
the Minister
fears that he is going to be asked a detailed
question—
“which
is used for the purposes of the candidate’s election after the
date when he becomes a candidate at the
election.”
Those matters
include:
“Advertising
of any nature (whatever the medium used)...Expenses in respect of
such advertising include agency fees, design costs and other costs in
connection with preparing, producing, distributing or otherwise
disseminating such advertising or anything incorporating such
advertising and intended to be distributed for the purpose of
disseminating it...Unsolicited material addressed to electors
(whether addressed to them by name or intended for delivery to
households within any particular area)...Expenses in respect of
such material include design costs and other costs in connection with
preparing, producing or distributing such material (including the cost
of postage)...Transport (by any means) of persons to any
place...Expenses in respect of the transport of such persons
include the costs of hiring a means of transport for a particular
period...Public meetings (of any kind)...Expenses in respect
of such meetings include costs incurred in connection with the
attendance of persons at such meetings, the hire of premises for the
purposes of such meetings or the provision of goods, services or
facilities at them...The services of an election agent or any
other person whose services are engaged in connection with the
candidate’s election...Accommodation and administrative
costs.”
The
integrity of our electoral system is predicated on a limitation of
spending by candidates. I believe that that is sensible, but the law
must ensure that that limitation is real. I believe that the order goes
a considerable way to achieving that goal.
I welcome
the contribution that the Electoral Commission has made in the UK as a
whole and in Northern Ireland in particular. It has made a useful
contribution to the conduct of elections in the past few years and it
could play a significant role in ensuring that elections can be
conducted in as free and fair a manner as possible. The order is a
necessary amendment to our complex legislation in this area and I am
happy to support it. I believe that I have gone some way towards
disproving what those outside told me: that this Committee would not
meet for longer than 10
minutes.
2.42
pm
Mr.
Hanson:
I thank the hon. Members for Tewkesbury, for
Montgomeryshire and for Belfast, East for their support for the
order.
As the hon.
Member for Belfast, East said, we meet today at an historic time;
yesterday, the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach called jointly for the
Northern Ireland Assembly to be elected on 7 March. That is a great
step forward. As the hon. Gentleman noted, in the past 12 months there
have been significant shifts on a range of political issues, not the
least of which has resulted in Sinn Fein’s announcement at the
weekend of its recognition and support of the Police Service of
Northern Ireland. Much work still has to be done to get devolution
back, but the hon. Gentleman and I share the wish that it will come
back to Northern Ireland. I hope that we will have a successful
election and a positive outcome and that the Executive will be restored
on 26 March this year.
The hon. Gentleman made a
number of points about the potential failings of electoral law and some
improvements that should be made. As I said earlier, we produced the
order now because of the urgency of clarifying the situation before the
7 March election. However, it is certainly our intention to bring
forward a wider-ranging order on other aspects of electoral law later
this year. The hon. Gentleman and others will have an opportunity to
have input into that process, particularly if the Assembly has been
restored and there are discussions between the Northern Ireland Office
and the Assembly on those important matters. He will know that the
Electoral Fraud (Northern Ireland) Act 2002 establishes a number of
benchmarks on electoral fraud; the Representation of the People Act
2000 also provides severe penalties for breaches of electoral
law.
There is always
room for improvement. It is important that the electoral process should
have integrity and that the result should be based on real
people’s votes, not on any aspect of electoral fraud, or, more
importantly, people being able dishonestly to buy their way to
electoral victory. That is the purpose of electoral
law.
The order, which
deals with electoral expenses, will help to clarify the situation for
the 7 March election. I look forward to debating further improvements
with hon. Members in due course and commend the order to the
Committee.
Question
put and agreed to.
Resolved,
That
the Committee has considered the draft Northern Ireland Assembly
(Elections) (Amendment) Order
2007.
Committee rose at
fifteen minutes to Three
o’clock.
